o do it and when to do it, no matter
what happens. When I started out with you to-day I smiled down inside at
the idea of you being able to show me anything in the way of scouting. I
wished I had the Bull Moose Patrol here to show you what real scouting
is like.

"Then that accident happened, and found me as helpless as a new-born
babe. But Sparrer here was right on the job from the jump. He had the
number of that car before I had it through my head what had happened,
and he knew just what to do next. I expect that it would have been the
same with any of the rest of you in his place. Anyway, I've been shown
the very finest kind of scoutcraft, and that little smile I started with
has turned to pride. I'm proud to be out with the Blue Tortoise Patrol,
as fine a bunch of real Scouts as I know of. And I am particularly proud
of my friend Sparrer Muldoon. I might be able to give him some points on
tracking a deer or a moose or even a man in the woods, but when it
comes to tracking a crazy motorcar Sparrer has got my number. I would
like to propose, Mr. Leader, three cheers for Scout Muldoon."

The cheers were given with a will and with a rousing tiger at the end,
to the confusion of Sparrer. Then Upton called for the patrol yell for
Pat Malone, and in that Sparrer found vent for his own feelings. These
preliminaries out of the way the patrol fell in to escort Pat about the
park and show him the hardier animals which winter out-of-doors. Nor was
their courtesy without gain to themselves, for the young naturalist's
comments as they visited one enclosure after another revealed an
intimate knowledge of the characteristics and habits, not only of those
species with which he was familiar in their native wilds, but of many
which he was now seeing for the first time, which was a revelation to
his young admirers. Chick wasn't far wrong when he whispered to Norwood:

"We ain't showing him anything; he's showing us."

It was an afternoon never to be forgotten by the Blue Tortoise Patrol,
and it was an equally memorable one for Pat. And when they parted that
night there was a mutual respect and liking which found expression in
the hearty grip of Scout brotherhood.

CHAPTER V

OFF FOR WOODCRAFT

Edward Muldoon, otherwise Sparrer, surreptitiously pinched himself to
make sure that he was not dreaming. He, newsboy from the lower East Side
of New York, who had never been farther from it than Coney Island,
riding in a brillian